US-based biotech startup Solstice Biologics, which has an exclusive licence with University of California, San Diego, receives $18m series A investment.
Solstice Biologics, a San Diego-based biotech startup which has an exclusive licence for intellectual property covering RNA technologies from the University of California, San Diego (UoCSD), has received $18m in a series A round led by venture firm venBio, with participation from private equity fund Aeris Capital.
It is the first such investment in the firm, which was set up three months ago by professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UoCSD, Steven Dowdy, and Curt Bradshaw, who has more than 20 years of chemistry and drug discovery in pharma and biotech firms.
“The Solstice technology is easy to describe conceptually as a cell-permeable pro-drug, but the actual solution is a significant achievement by Steve and his team at UCSD which required solving a matrix of variables,” said Dr. Bradshaw. “This technology accomplishes what most experts thought impossible.”
As part of the deal, two managing directors at venBio, Corey Goodman and Rob Adelman, and Dr. Frank Muehlenbeck from Aeris will join the Solstice board of directors.
“Past attempts to solve the RNAi problem have involved large molecules that proved incapable of working in different cell types,” said Corey Goodman. “Solstice is developing proprietary technology that enables short double-stranded RNAi and microRNA molecules to cross cell membranes.”
